For much of history, media-content items (e.g., books, songs, and, more recently, movies and television programs) have been presented in a linear fashion with a fixed sequence of events. With linear content, the author specifies, with rigid control, what happens, when, to whom, and in what order.
Recently, some media-content items (e.g., interactive games) have progressed beyond linearity. Here, the author generally creates a framework for interaction, for example a three-dimensional “dungeon” or village, and populates it with possible characters and events. Individual users then freely (or, at least, seemingly freely) decide how they wish to navigate their ways through the framework. Their navigational and other choices determine, within limits set by the author, what actually happens within the framework and when. However, the interactive content items still adhere to constricted progression within the framework. Thus, there is a need in the electronic media field to create a new and useful system and method for navigating a field of view within an interactive media-content item. This invention provides such a new and useful system and method.